HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

THE BATTLES FOUGHT BY ABU BAKR   Volume XI of the History of Al-Tabari reports in great detail the events unfolding during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq and his successor. In fact, the period taken into consideration goes from 633 to 635 CE; following the Muslim calendar, the years are from 12 to 13 AH.   The events taking place in this period are thus covered in great detail, more than in other books of Al-Tabari and the reason is simple. In fact, it is in this brief period that the Caliphate truly becomes an Empire, going well beyond the borders of the Arabic Peninsula.   Of particular importance, then, are two battles, the one fought in Al-Madhar and the one which took place in Al-Walajah.   THE CHARACTER OF ABU BAKR AND MUSLIMS DURING WARS   In the previous post, we saw the intent of the Caliph to come to terms with the traitors who rebelled against his rule. Now, we want to see another aspect, not very known, of his character; in fact, he dictated the rules to be followed du

THE BEGINNINGS: THE UNIFICATION OF ARABIAN PENINSULA (633-635 CE)   Welcome to a new series of alternate history with Crusader Kings II !!!   We are currently playing with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the leader and successor of the Arabic Sultanate and Caliph of the Muslims.   The first mission entrusted is the liberation of the Arabian Duchy, which, in 633 CE, when the game starts, is held by a vassal of the Persian (Sasanid) Empire. In the alternate history I create, the war to conquer the last part of the Arabian Sultanate began in 633 CE.   On April 3, 633 CE, the war began, and our troops are ready to fight to expand the borders of the nascent Caliphate,  and the contested  territories will be ours very soon, as you can see from the picture below. Some months later, in September, as you can see from the picture below, our troops begin to occupy the Arabian lands still held by the Persian Emperor. The main battle takes place in the province of Al-Ula, and is a very easy catch for our soldi

PERSIAN EMPIRE IN 790'S CE: ZOROASTRIANISM EXPANDS FURTHER IN THE ARABIC PENISULA!!! Welcome back to our adventure with the Persian Empire in Crusader Kings II; Zoroastrians expanded their reach, as you can see in the map below, around 790 CE.   Compared to 756 CE, the changing is significant, as you can see from the picture below. It seems that our politics of conversion is beginning to work, although slowly, as it is reasonable to expect, both in reality and in the simulation as well.   Interestingly, the two Holy Cities of Islam surrendered to Zoroastrianism, and abandoned their former beliefs; let’s see if this event will enrage and encourage the Muslims to get back their lands and restore the Islamic faith.   As you can see, Makkah is no longer Muslim and this is a very powerful blow to the Islamic forces and rulers; there are some provinces that were formerly Zoroastrian and now embraced some heresies in the same religious group. The Sunni tradition, on the other hand, is a m

  Welcome back to our simulation and our alternate history!!! In the previous post about the simulated history, we have considered the period between 654 CE and 693 CE. Now it’s time to have a look at the VIII  century, to see how things evolved; well, our Emperor, as you can see from the image below, is Keyghobad, known as ‘The Wise’, who began to rule at the end of 753 CE.   Our timeline, as is evident in the picture above, has evolved a lot, and new emperors came to power; in particular, the current one is the 9 th  descendant of the founder of our dynasty, the Samanids. In fact, as far as the simulation is concerned, the first half of VIII  century proved very dynamic, although the succession has been regular and undisputed so far. As a matter of fact, there have been no major disruptions and revolts, and no one challenged the rightful heir to the throne.   The map has not changed, and we hold the same territories as shown at the end of the VII  century; the historical map was very

In the proposed simulation, the historical timeline has been considerably changed; in fact, as you can see from the picture below, the Persian Empire wiped out the Muslim Caliphate, changing the course of history. The first picture below is the map of the Caliphate under Caliph Utman, in 654, which, as you can see, comprises the former Persian Empire; the second is the map of our simulation: (copyright Mohammad Adil, Wikipedia Commons) As you can see in 654, the Caliphate disappeared from the map; as a consequence, the Muslims did not conquest the Persian Empire. The Samanids, our dinasty in the game, kept controlling the Empire and did not become vassals of anyone. The dynastic succession can be appreciated in this picture: A comparison between the historical and simulated timeline is provided below: As you can easily see from the chart above, the course of history was changed, and the Persian Empire staid strong and independent; is this a plausible hypotyhesis? probably not...  Histo